If my boss tells me, ‘not now’ one more time, I’m going to scream”. That was Katie, one of the many Gen Yers in my professional circle. She was frustrated once again by her boss and his inflexibility in trying something new. “He keeps making excuses about our team’s workload, our time constraints, the budget to shut down any ideas we bring to him”.

I explained to Katie that “not now” was the leadership code word for “that makes me uncomfortable”. After observing Millennials for so long, I realize that they come to the workplace with a different microchip imbedded in their DNA. When that microchip gets activated by such things as: presenting a new idea, recommending a new but untried process, collaborating with people outside your team, the seasoned leader or manager gets another sampling of the unfamiliar and they don’t like the feeling.

The savvy and astute leaders use that sampling either as a way to test the tried and true or to experiment with something new. They see the opportunity to do things differently that the Gen Yers are bringing to the workplace and they go with it. Most leaders just say “Not now. We’re too busy, too understaffed, too [fill in the excuse du jour].” “Not now” lets them hold on to the past. It lets them ensure continuity of the way they’ve always done things, it provides a safe haven from the unfamiliar.

To a sharp and eager Gen Yer looking for motivation and a way to stand out, “not now” is like taking a dip in freezing cold ocean water in January. It takes your breath away but not in a good way. For 20-somethings like Katie, getting told “not now” repeatedly is a let-down and a HUGE motivation killer. Why should she continue to bring up ideas when all she’ll get is a lame reason designed to uphold the tried and true. What ultimately happens with that inflexibility in leadership style is that talented people like Katie either leave or stop caring. They stop trying to bring their unique and much needed perspective into the workplace. Either way, the organization loses out on capitalizing on her talent. It also loses out on getting comfortable with change. Can any organization today afford that? Yet, time and time again you can see many bosses across countless organizations emulating Katie’s boss’ behavior.

My question is: how long can we allow “not now” to continue? How long until it hurts the team and the organization? Holding on to what has worked in the past is a recipe for failure if it’s not constantly being tested or reassessed for its value going forward. Gen Yers have some great ideas to share in the workplace that test the tried and true. That should be embraced by leaders of forward looking organizations. Some of the ideas may not work but I can guarantee that everyone will learn and be better off by trying them out.

By leading the Millennials, I learned that “not now” couldn’t hold a candle to “let’s give it a try”. I just had to get comfortable saying it. I realized that “Not now” fed my fear of the unknown while “let’s give it a try” gave me possibilities. It was also music to the ears of the Millennials in my team. It gave them hope that things could change and that their input could make a positive difference at work.

So what about you? Do you catch yourself saying “not now” a lot at work? Replace it one time with “Ok. Let’s give it a try” and you’ll see that the world does not fall apart. Maybe you’ll see your Gen Yers light up with hope instead of mope with disappointment.

“Alicia, I’m up to my eyeballs in work and more keeps getting piled on. The last thing I need is to deal with a bunch of kids that have no clue how things get done at work but want to show me a better way of doing things. If it’s been good enough for us, it’ll be good enough for them, too.”

Bob was the CIO of a mid-size company and his tirade didn’t end there. It went on for another few minutes as he let out his frustration with managing the Millennials in his team. As a leadership expert who specializes in the Millennial generation and Next Generation leadership issues, I get to hear similar tirades from clients and in networking events. This happened to be a networking event and the minute Bob found out what I did, he started spewing.

It’s called F.U.D. Many years ago, I had a finance professor that used this acronym as he tried to explain market volatility. It stands for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. Since then I’ve heard the term used in a variety of contexts and as Bob was talking, it kept flashing through my mind. Bob was locked in the status quo. Just the mere thought of having to deal with something unfamiliar during such tumultuous times made his head hurt.

Millennials represent the unfamiliar to Bob and many of today’s leaders and it puts them in FUD mode. Instead of trying to understand and embrace the Millennials and use the experience as an opportunity to change their thinking [Oh, Nooooo!], these leaders go into what I call the hunker mentality: they firmly grasp the old, conventional way of leading and seeing things and refuse to open their minds to the possibility of a new way. The more Millennials try to infuse a different perspective into the team or the workplace, the more hunkered down these leaders get in the old ways.

Here’s the problem with the hunker mentality: the more leaders in a company that prescribe to that mentality, the more at risk that company is to being left behind. Instead of seeing the Millennial FUD factor as a bad thing, smart leaders are using it as a wake-up call to find new ways of leading that begin to incorporate the unique perspectives the Millennials bring so they can attract, motivate and engage them going forward. Let’s not forget that the Millennials are the next generation leaders and the world they will lead is starkly different than the world that created the old, conventional ways. Let’s also not forget that as Baby Boomers, many of us won’t be retiring as planned. So if your strategy was to “get out of dodge” before the massive influx of Millennials hit your workplace, you may want to re-think that strategy, huh?

So are you in FUD-land? Go ahead. Take a chance. Acknowledge the FUD factor, get uncomfortable and try new things. It will ultimately better prepare you to lead our next generation leaders. Years ago, I was knee deep in FUD as I started hiring Millennials at work. I was determined to figure out why. I had to learn to get uncomfortable. I had to un-learn some leadership techniques that didn’t work anymore and upgrade some others to work in the 21st Century. Millennials need us to get uncomfortable so we can help them become the leaders they need to be in the new normal that is just beginning to unfold. They are counting on you to work through your particular FUDs and come out on the other side. The other side is not so bad. Really…

I know some people may be saying, “Duh. It’s the same thing. A team is made up of a group of individuals”. Yes, but do we manage the group or the individuals that make up the group?

I know it’s a subtle point but a leader’s perspective on that point has a palpable impact on whether they can attract and retain their most talented employees in today’s workplace.

The leadership models of the past and the ones most of us have cut our teeth on focused on the one size fits all theory. That is, each of us has a leadership style that we are either comfortable with or have learned along the way and we apply that style to running our “teams”. We don’t deviate much away from that style. Actually, the more consistently we apply it the better since it shows we are treating everyone the same. But does it actually show that?

I used to think it did. After all, I was trained and compensated on how consistent my style was. Everyone in my team knew exactly how I ran things and the subtle message was that they had to conform to that style if they wanted to succeed in my team. I felt that my consistent, one size fits all style helped me weed out the non-performers, those people that were not , A-players, or at least they weren’t in my mind.

It wasn’t until I started hiring Gen Yers in my team and created a lab to figure them out that I questioned that approach. I realized that I was leading the masses, the amorphous “TEAM” and not the individuals that made up my team. By being consistent in my leadership style I was telling the masses how to conform. That gave me the advantage of running a very efficient and productive team. What I didn’t realize is that its side effect was creating sameness instead of variety. Now years ago, a lot could be said for efficiency and productivity and sameness. But as the pace of change increased and continues to do so at breakneck speeds, sameness is a creativity and innovation killer.

What I discovered as I tried to make sense of Gen Yers (certainly NOT the same as me) was that if I wanted my team to be innovative going forward, my leadership style had to take a more unconventional approach. Instead of having my “team” conform to my leadership style, I had to understand and capitalize on the richness of skills, attributes and experiences that each person in my team brought with them. Instead of leading the masses with a one size fits all style, I learned to understand, appreciate and leverage the unique, distinctive and one of a kind qualities each individual brought to my team. That was a “massive” shift for me and a total game changer.

The days of one size fits all leadership are quickly coming to an end and are on life support. Don’t try to hold on to it. Let it go. It’s a recipe for being left behind. Embrace the unfamiliar so you can understand and capitalize on the unique talents each of your employees brings to the workplace.

In a recent blog, Seth Godin wrote a blog titled “Please consider Weird”. In it he says that “The defining idea of the twentieth century, more than any other, was mass”. He continues to say that the concept of mass is dead and that although that gets us uncomfortable it also provides us with a great opportunity.

The same applies to leadership. Although leadership of the masses (aka TEAM) is our comfort zone, we need to get uncomfortable to pave another way to harness the variety, creativity and innovation that each of our employees bring to the workplace.

In a recent blog, Seth Godin wrote a blog titled “Please consider Weird”.In it he says that “The defining idea of the twentieth century, more than any other, was mass”. He continues to say that the concept of mass is dead and that although that gets us uncomfortable it also provides us with a great opportunity.

The same applies to leadership. Although leadership of the masses (aka TEAM) is our comfort zone,we need to get uncomfortable to create an opportunity to harness the variety, creativity and innovation that each of our employees bring to the workplace.

I think we do and we need to do it fast. In my last blog post I talked about how so many people have been approaching me lately about how unhappy they are in their corporate jobs. I think the economic woes we’re facing are making people cautious about leaving a steady paycheck but at the same time, it’s highlighting just how pervasive poor leadership is within the corporate ranks. When times were better, people had more career options and would leave a company when they got tired of its poor leadership. Today, they can’t and it’s putting a spotlight on just how de-moralizing poor leadership can be to a team.

Although leaders know they have the upper hand in this economy, they have to always remember that it won’t be like that forever. If they are lousy bosses, their employees know it and so does everyone else.

It’s not hard to re-imagine leadership so that you have happy employees. Any good leader will tell you that employees don’t want much – they want work that is fulfilling and they want to be respected and acknowledged for their contributions. That’s it. The problem is that many of us who have led for a number of years are sticking to some pretty outdated ways of leading that prevent our employees from getting those 2 simple things they want most.

So here are 3 things today’s hip and savvy leaders are doing to re-imagine how they lead in the 21st Century.

They ask for advice. Savvy leaders know that the days when they had all the answers are long gone. Today, the employees in the trenches know more about what’s going on than they do. After all, how current can you be when you’re stuck in meetings all day and most of your job requires you to ensure your team’s compliance with those countless regulations and policies required under HIPAA, SOX, MOUSE (just kidding). Getting your team involved and listening to their ideas is instrumental for successful leaders in the future.

They are willing to bend the rules. Let’s face it, the only way we are going to shed our old leadership comfort zones are to experiment with new ones. The only way to do that is if we bend the rules of how the game is played. Now I’m certainly not advocating we go and break corporate rules and get ourselves into trouble. I’m talking about breaking the rules we’ve used from the past to lead in the future. So for example, just because something hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done. Just because our best practices don’t align with the new idea being considered doesn’t mean we shouldn’t test the “best” practice to see if something better should replace it. Bend the rules and test the “what-ifs”. Those “what-ifs” are the secret to staying viable in the future.

They learn. If you aren’t open to learning new things every day you will not make it as a leader in the 21st Century. The pace of change is grueling and it’s constantly challenging what we know on any given day. If you want to sit on your laurels and reap the benefits of the expertise you’ve developed in the past, you will become the poster child for poor leadership. You need to be in constant learning mode to hold the privilege of leading a team going forward. By your example, your team will know that they need to stay sharp and keep their skills up to date. And here’s a secret: you know those pesky 20-somethings that drive you crazy? They are a GREAT resource for you to keep you learning and to stay relevant with what is happening in the world today.

So how about it? Do you want to just take up space until you reach retirement or do you want to make a difference to the generations of up and coming leaders that are watching you for clues on how to be the best of the best? It’s your choice. If we are to re-imagine what leadership is going to be in the 21st Century, it starts with us – the leaders that have the courage to be different, be bold and willing to shed the past to make room for the future.

Since I left corporate to start my business a few years ago, I’ve had a steady stream of inquiries from friends and colleagues about getting out of corporate. For some reason, over the last few months, those inquiries have increased significantly. Now these are bright, talented individuals making very decent incomes who are absolutely miserable and disgusted with corporate life. I point that out because many times people think it’s just the 20-somethings that are complaining about corporate life. No, folks. It’s not just the Gen Yers – it’s Xers and lots of Boomers doing the complaining.

In every case , without exception, when I dig a little bit to find out what is at the root of the unhappiness, it turns out to be poor leadership. There are many reasons given. Here’s the top 10 list of complaints:

My boss has no clue what’s going on in the team.

My boss is a very good [fill in the expertise – salesperson, accountant, lawyer] but he’s a lousy manager.

My boss doesn’t stick up for us and caves in to the demands of other departments or higher ups.

The staff isn’t getting a raise but the higher ups are getting outrageous bonuses this year.

My boss is so afraid of losing her job that she refuses to listen to new ideas we’ve presented that can help the team.

My boss listens to people who are out of touch with the realities of what the team faces.

My boss is not well respected by the higher ups or his colleagues and is ineffective.

My boss is just holding on long enough to get retirement.

My boss has a sink or swim mentality.

My boss has no time for his employees.

Any of these ring a bell? Which ones resonate the most with you? What complaint isn’t on there that you feel strongly about? For me, the ones that would put me over the edge were #1, 3, 5 and 7.

After listening to so many people repeat these reasons over and over again, I wondered how so many leaders could be so clueless about how their employees felt? I realize that employees aren’t going to volunteer that information to their boss even if he or she asks. I also know that employees aren’t always forthcoming in giving that information on employee engagement surveys no matter how much the company tries to convince them their answers are “confidential”.

So I decided to post the top 10 complaints here in the hopes that leaders would read them and ask themselves 3 probing questions.

Who is someone inside or outside the company that I trust that can give me an honest assessment of how I am perceived as a leader? We all know people in our careers that are honest, trustworthy and discreet that can help us answer whether our perception of how we lead matches how others see us lead. The answer might surprise you.

Do any of these complaints describe my peers or bosses? Can any of them remotely describe me? Many times if you can spot these behaviors in others around you, it makes you stop and reflect on your own and causes you to take some time to be introspective.

What is one thing I can do today to ensure that my perception of how I lead is aligned to how others see me as a leader?

Of course, to answer these questions truthfully require you, as a leader, to be objective about yourself. But more importantly, it requires you to still CARE about being an effective leader. From the sounds of the heightened grumblings I’m hearing lately, that may be the missing ingredient.

So my question for you is: are you one of the leaders described in this Top 10 list? What are you doing to make sure you’re not?

Last week, my friend, Gina Carroll, who also happens to be an awesome editor, reminded me that I had never posted the last blog in this series. My bad. So here goes.

The last of the disturbing trends that I see that can keep mediocrity alive & well in Corporate America is the resistance to tap into AND harness the talent that Millennials bring to the workplace. Millennials have been in the workplace for 10 years now and still corporate leaders are having difficulty managing them. As I work with corporate clients, I see their continued insistence to hold on to entrenched systems that worked in the past. Having been in their shoes, I totally understand why they want to do that. They have worked long and hard to get processes and systems in place. There’s a lot invested in corporate SOP (Standard Operating Procedures). The thought of having to give up the tried and true for the trial and error isn’t something many leaders are enthusiastic about doing.

The problem is that continuing to hold on to the tried and true is a prescription for being left behind. The Millennials are the messengers of the future. By pulling them into our 20th Century leadership comfort zones all but guarantees that we will miss the boat. Instead, we should be letting them push us into the 21st Century. But yet leaders are hesitant to do it. This creates a Triple Jeopardy situation in the workplace.

1. Exodus of talent. Talented Gen Yers leave the organization. Tired and fed up with being hand tied and unable to make a difference, the very best and brightest just opt to leave. Where is your future leadership pipeline coming from?

2. Cost. The organization has just wasted time, money & effort on hiring those Gen Yers that subsequently leave. In addition, the employees that remain have to pick up the slack until another replacement is found. This further upsets an already overworked group of people.

3. Rinse &Repeat. The process of hiring the replacement starts the cycle all over again. Without a solid plan in place to engage and leverage the talents Millennials bring, there is a high likelihood that the cycle of turnover will repeat itself again. The organization is perpetuating the problem and falling further behind the innovation curve.

But it doesn’t have to be that way if leaders would be willing to shift their thinking a bit to see 20-somethings as allies instead of aliens. By being unwilling to let go of the status quo, companies are snubbing their nose at 3 ways Millennials can bring profits, growth and vibrancy to the organization. Here’s how they do that.

1. By being Solutionists. 20-somethings are wired to get things done. Whether it was the many demands placed on their time as young children, or the video games they play or the need to make sense of a chaotic world, Millennials are focused on solutions and being resourceful in getting to those solutions.

2. EmbracingReal-Time Reality vs. Delayed Action. You will rarely see a Gen Yer opt to put something on a list so they can get to it later. They tackle the problem on the spot. They look it up and get it done. For Boomer leaders, this is uncomfortable and unsettling to see. We prefer delayed action – let’s put it on our “To-Do” list, let’s research it some more, let’s meet a few more times to explore the problem, etc., etc. Millennials are in-tune with the fact that in today’s world, you won’t get to it later. They never knew a time when there was time to spare. Summers off to play? Only one after school activity? No volunteering on the weekends? This is all shocking to them because from an early age, their lives were full of activities that required you to be present and engaged and responding to things in real-time. There is no missed window of opportunity.

3. Plugging into the Collective. You can’t beat a 20-something in their ability to tap the collective. They realize that 2 heads are better than one and 10 are better than 2. They instinctively know to reach out to others in getting things done because the result will be a better product or solution. Instead of the individual being front & center, it’s the group that works the magic. The collective is at the root of the solution and the ability to tackle problems real time instead of putting it on the list.

Millennials have the 21st Century mindset imbedded in how they think, act and work. By understanding and leveraging that mindset, leaders can infuse fresh, new ways of doing things going forward. Millennials are the messengers of the future and it’s vital that organizations retain the best of them. We will retain them by letting them re-train our automatic defaults. Those tried and true instinctive reactions we have worked so hard to master will get in the way of our ability to: make decisions in real-time, to test our best practices for future viability, to infuse innovation into our SOP.

If Corporate America is going to be a meaningful player in the future, it has to look inward and let go of a lot of the trash it has built up over the years. Like Jennifer Hudson says in the Weight Watcher’s commercial ” It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life” for us as corporate leaders… and yes, embracing it all will also make us ”feel good” IF we give ourselves permission to be bold, experiment & try new things. The Millennials are ready to work with us to forge a new way. Are we?

Last week, I had the rare treat of being around NINE 20-somethings for 7 whole days. As many of you know by now, I love watching Gen Yers.In fact, I learned to figure them out by creating a living, breathing lab years ago as I started hiring them. They frustrated me so much that I knew that I either had to figure them out or put in for early retirement. I chose the first option. Putting Gen Yers under the microscrope changed so many things in my life but most especially it changed the way I saw them and the way I led them.

Last week, I had a chance to observe nine of them in a personal setting instead of a professional one. Although I’ve been able to do this in the past, I didn’t have the opportunity to do it for long periods of time like I did last week. Seven glorious days!

So let me give you the quick backstory. My fiance’s mother, June, turned 90 in June. Isn’t it cute that June’s name is her birth month? Anyway, I digress. June’s daughter decided to host a family reunion in August so the entire family could make it. It’s a pretty big family so you can imagine how difficult it was to get busy schedules to align.

What was so amazing is that June’s daughter and her husband PAID for the entire reunion!! And I mean everything from renting the house next door, to stocking refrigerators full of food, to paying for dinners, a suite at a Padres game, tickets to the local outdoor symphony featuring the Beatles and Rolling Stones, to a beautiful sunset birthday dinner at a golf course. It was a magical week full of wonderful memories and all made possible by the generosity of June’s daughter & husband. I know the karma gods will reward them generously for their beautiful and selfless gesture and we are all indebted to them for everything they did.

So, the nine 20-somethings were mostly June’s grandchildren and a couple of their friends. I got to talk to them, observe them, understand what was important to them and just immerse myself in their world. In doing so, I realized that today’s 20-somethings are just like we were at their age – but with a 21st Century twist. I also realized just how much I had forgotten what it was like to be 20-something. Here are the 3 things that stood out:

1. They love having fun. Whether it was playing bananagrams in the dining room table or making signs to take to the Padres game or rocking out to the Beatles & the Rolling Stones at the Pops concert, 20-somethings live their life to the fullest. Seeing their zest for life and the dreams they had for the future, reminded me that I was exactly like them at their age – I had just forgotten.

Here’s the twist: At the same time they were playing bananagrams, some of them were playing scrabble on their smartphones with either someone else at the reunion or a friend online. Before going to the Rolling Stones concert, they went to iTunes to listen to some Stones hits so they would recognize them at the concert. Remember, the Beatles & Stones aren’t bands they listen to but yet they were totally cool about getting to know them & going to a concert that showcased their songs. At 20-something, I know I wouldn’t even dream of going with my parents to a supper club to hear Frank Sinatra. How about you?

2. They love to Party. While the boring Boomers would scramble to bed exhausted at 9:00 or 10:00, their evening was just beginning. They would either congregate in one of the houses or they’d go to a local bar. Sometimes, I’d hear them getting back at 3 0r 4 in the morning. It reminded me of how I’d do the same thing in my twenties. But again, going to bed at 10PM makes you forget the days when 10PM meant you were getting ready to go out and party the night away.

Here’s the twist: Unlike their parent’s generation, I found that 20-somethings today are more aware of the hazards of drinking and driving. Instead of putting their lives and those of others at risk, these 20-somethings chose to let someone else do the driving instead. I find that 20-somethings today take cabs after a night of partying rather than get behind a wheel. For a group that’s considered to be immature and irresponsible, that’s a pretty responsible thing to do and it’s smart too. How many times did you call a cab after a night of partying?

Through all of their partying, these 20-somethings are connected at all times to their smartphones/cellphones. They are either letting their friends know where they are, or finding a place to go eat afterwards or taking a picture to put on their facebook page, the technology is always with them and utilized all the time. Boomers will never know what that feels like. We had to find our way to a payphone and prayed that it worked if we wanted to make a call.

3. They love their families. One of my fondest memories of this reunion will be how well all the generations – Veterans, Boomers, Xers, Gen Yers and iGen (yes, there were even children under the age of 11) got along. There was love and respect even when understanding a certain way of thinking was difficult. After all, what someone in their 90s thinks is important is very different than what a 20-something thinks it is. I loved how everyone laughed and interacted with one another and the genuine interest the 20-somethings had in the stories told by the older generations. I thought back to the family reunions I attended in my twenties and how despite our differences, I respected and loved my family. I still remember the wonderful family stories that were told that I still remember today. I had just forgotten where I first heard them.

Here’s the twist: 20-somethings today really like to hang out with their parents. They didn’t congregate in a group removed from the older folks, they got right into the conversation and the action. In my twenties, I distinctly remember how the younger group would separate themselves from the older folks and hang out separately. Not so today. Here’s an even bigger shocker – these 20-somethings didn’t even mind if their parents hung out with them at the bar or late into the night. That NEVER happened when I was in my twenties. Parents were simply not allowed into our space. Not so with this crop of 20-somethings. They include everyone… at least to a certain point.

It seems like every day I read or hear someone highlighting how different or strange these 20-somethings are. After spending seven fun-filled days with nine of them, I can tell you they are more like us than we give them credit for. It’s just very hard to think back to the days we were their age. Also, they have their own unique twist that makes them unfamiliar – but not different. From the generation that lived the sex, drugs & rock n’ roll mantra, imagine how frightening we must have been for our very proper and “square” parents?

I think that if we start from a place of acceptance and commonality, the differences among us aren’t so stark. They add flavor to the rich fabric of our personal and professional lives. And we are all the more blessed because of it.

Like most Baby Boomers, I am used to getting information with enough detail and relevance that I can use it as needed. Notice I said as needed and not necessarily immediately. In other words, I like my information to be relatively meaty. One of the biggest lessons I learned in my lab when I was a corporate executive was that 20-somethings or Millennials don’t like information delivered the same way I like it. In fact, it’s just the opposite. They like it bite-sized, punchy and when needed and not a minute before. Instead of a meal, they want a snack.

That changed the way I communicated with this group in my team. It was also one of the determining factors in transforming the way I led. Since I learned and honed my management techniques and style under the 20th Century model, I was committed to communicating in the same way to all my team members. After all, I didn’t want to be accused of being inconsistent or treating people differently. How many times were we told that “one size fits all” was best when it came to employees? That way there was no confusion or misunderstandings.

Well, in the 21st Century model, when it comes to our newest job entrants and customers, one size fits all simply doesn’t work & is totally ineffective. When it comes to communicating, it’s absolutely necessary to chunk down your message. It’s called “information snacking”. Love the term!

I’m including a video where Mark Ragan, CEO of Ragan Communications is talking to Erin Lieberman Moran of the Great Place To Work Institute. By the way, the Great Place to Work Institute is the company that selects the top 100 companies to work for every year and Fortune Magazine reports on the results in their magazine. According to their website, Ragan Communications is the “leading publisher of corporate communications, public relations, and leadership development newsletters”. So both Erin and Mark know a thing or two about communicating in today’s world. Check out what they have to say about information snacking.

Right below that video, I included a video I did a couple of months ago from my Gen Yer on Fire series. The goal of the series is to highlight “the other side of Gen Y.” In other words, the good side of Gen Y that many of us as leaders often overlook. The series shows how Gen Yers are opting out of corporate careers and applying their creativity and hard work in areas they are passionate about.

So here’s Erin and Mark chatting about information snacking :

Here’s my Gen Yer on Fire video with a different but similar slant on information snacking. Oh, yeah, and one more thing: I’m not an actress and you’ll clearly see I don’t play one on the video. I’m just doing what Millennials say to do: live out loud and share my message!

So what about you? What can you do today to provide your 20-somethings with an information snack rather than a meal? I know you can do it !!!

In today’s USA Today, an article titled: College offers scholarship for Twitter ‘essay’ written by Luke Kerr-Dineen and Natalie DiBlasio caught my attention. The University of Iowa held a contest worth $37,000 – the price of a full scholarship to their business school – for prospective students to submit a Twitter entry in place of a second essay. That means that students would have to get pretty creative with 140 words in order to win the contest.

I thought that was a great example of the type of experimentation that is needed today in both universities and corporations. As usual, the article highlighted the voice of some detractors that were not in agreement with the experiment. I find that to be the typical reaction that plagues the leadership in many organizations today. It’s the need to hold on to the “tried and true” instead of the “trial and error”.

Is it just me or does anyone else question the intensive focus that is placed on the essay part of the college/MBA applicaiton process by most parents today. Every one of my Boomer friends who has had a child apply for college has been intimately involved in the application process. Some of them more so than their children. Some have hired professional writers and editors to “review” (read redo) the essays their children prepare. Most have spent countless hours perfecting the essays. As Jodi Schafer, the University of Iowa’s director of MBA admission says, this intense focus on the essays has made them “unoriginal and often highly edited”. I couldn’t agree more.

It gets people comfortable with trial and error. The University of Iowa had no idea whether this experiment would work or not but you can be assured that going through it will give them a ton of ideas and ways to perfect it the next time or do something different. They didn’t let the risk of failure stop them. More universities and companies need to adopt that way of thinking if innovation is going to thrive in the future.

It utilizes 21st Century tools. Instead of relying on contest tools that were used in the past, the University decided to use the twentysomethings tool of choice to challenge them. After all, these are the tools this generation is comfortable with and will undoubtedly keep using as they get older. As organizations bring in twentysomethings and begin to tackle the challenge of grooming them to be 21st Century leaders, they will need to get creative in how to employ these tools. Shutting them down and prohibiting their use may not be the optimum reaction to effectively embracing innovation in the form of new tools.

It’s refreshing to read about how some universities are finding creative ways to deal with the challenge of adapting to the 21st Century. The article highlighted other creative ways organizations are using social media in contests to help students find funding alternatives for college. It’s a win-win for both the students and the organizations that choose the scary path of experimentation.

What about you? What new ideas are you trying in the workplace today? Are you holding on to the tried and true or venturing into the trial and error? Take a page from the University of Iowa: don’t just think outside the box. Throw it out and see what new idea takes its place.

Yesterday I was reading an article that referenced a survey conducted by Mercer indicating that over 30% of employees are disillusioned and disengaged at work . For Gen Yers on the job, the number increases to over 40%.

The interviews I held with Gen Yers this past year validates the results of the Mercer survey. In fact, I found that over 80% of the Gen Yers I interviewed had already left an unsatisfying job or were aggressively looking to leave.

But here’s what I find most baffling. As I work with business leaders who want to get the most out of their Millennial staff, I find there is no desire on their part to change their way of leading or try something different. A surprisingly large group of business leaders still believe that the Millennials are the ones who are going to have to adapt to the way organizations work. I find that so many leaders are disillusioned themselves and are just plain tired of the corporate grind. They have no desire or incentive to try something different, to capture the minds & talent of their Gen Y staff. Many of them have gone as far as to tell me that they are absolutely NOT going to “rock the boat”. They are desperately holding on, keeping things the same until they can retire.

I find that to be sad and troubling. By 2014, it is estimated that 50% of the workforce will be made up of Gen Yers yet they will be reporting to bosses who are holding on to the status quo and are not that motivated to engage & retain their young staff. Many of them turn a deaf ear when it comes to understanding why Gen Yers are unfamiliar to them as new employees. And even more interesting than that is that many leaders show a disconnect between how they raised their own Gen Y children and what they expect from them as employees.

Here’s an example. Recently, I was working with a manager who talked constantly about how involved she was in her college children’s lives. She explained how she researched the universities they attended, talked with the dean and other assorted faculty & staff at the various colleges they were considering and countless other details that showed how involved she was in their selection and in their lives. She didn’t think anything of her deep involvement in her children’s decisions and the ramifications that would later have. After all, if someone is THAT involved in making decisions on behalf of her children, how can her children be expected to do things on their own.

While I worked with her, she was constantly receiving texts from her children & responding to them. She called them often & researched things for them. So you’d think that someone like that would have a lot of understanding and tolerance for Gen Yers that reported to her. Not at all. She constantly complained about how lazy & unmotivated her young staff was. She was frustrated at how much time she had to “waste” holding their hand through every minor detail of their work. She was appalled at their work habits but fully expected them to “get with the program” and figure things out themselves. After all, no one ever showed her how to get things done. She had to figure it out on her own and so do they.

See the disconnect? Like my client, many Gen Y parents were and are heavily involved in their children’s lives. But when these parents put on their “leader/manager” hats at work, they expect Gen Yers to miraculously figure things out on their own. But how can they when all their lives Gen Yers have had hands-on advisors helping them every step of the way?

Unlike other generations of young workers, Gen Yers have many more employment options than existed in the past. Many leaders mistakenly believe that with the recession Gen Yers are going to have to conform & “get with the program”. They may do that temporarily but here’s something you probably don’t know about your Gen Yers that you would if you spent any time trying to get to know them. Many Gen Yers have side gigs. I believe Pamela Slim, author of “Escape from Cubicle Nation” calls them side hustles. In their spare time, Gen Yers are following their passion, volunteering in non-profits, working part-time at a home-based business. The more disengaged they are at work, the more effort they’ll put into their side hustles.

They also have options around the companies they work for. There are many successful companies that have been started by Gen Yers that are attuned to the needs to Gen Yers & are extremely attractive to them. Think Google, Facebook and many in the non-profit world such as Invisible Children. And we haven’t even talked about the unprecedented access to angel funding & venture capital that is available to someone with an idea, a lot to offer and working for a boss who doesn’t care.

So my advice to leaders out there is this: If you want to attract and keep the best of Gen Y talent and prepare them to lead effectively in the 21st Century instead of the 20th Century, let go of the status quo and stop holding on until you retire. We owe it to our children, your young staff to give them the tools they need to be the great leaders of the future.